An illustration has been released to commemorate the fact that the box office revenue of the movie version of the popular anime series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM, has surpassed 5 billion yen. The illustration features the Strike Freedom Gundam Type-2, Infinite Justice Gundam Type-2, and Black Knight Code Carla.
The film was released on January 26th and had a long run of about four months, becoming a huge hit with a box office revenue of 4.9 billion yen and an audience of over 2.9 million people. A "limited-time special edition" with updated footage was released on September 20th, and as of September 25th, the box office revenue had exceeded 5 billion yen and the audience had exceeded 3 million people.
The Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series was broadcast from October 2002 to September 2003, and its sequel, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY, was broadcast from October 2004 to October 2005. SEED FREEDOM is a sequel to SEED DESTINY, and reunites the staff of the TV anime, including Director Mitsuo Fukuda. The production of the movie was announced in 2006, but there was no news about it for a long time. It was finally released about 18 years after the announcement. It is also a hot topic that it has broken the all-time record for the highest box office revenue of a Gundam movie in about 42 years, surpassing the box office revenue of about 2.3 billion yen recorded by Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space, which was released in 1982. The special edition is a "complete edition" with over 500 updated scenes from the main movie. The first edition will be screened from September 20th to October 3rd, and the second edition from November 1st to 14th. The first and second editions will each include a different epilogue cut.
